Tag Archive for 'news'

Pedophile Government Worker Preys On Furries

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 5:42 PM on May 30, 2009 in Commentary. View Comments Tags: , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/HM

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that another one of those government workers fighting for laws to protect children has actually solicited sex from a 15-year-old boy. Particularly disturbing is that he found his target in the furry community:

A legislative aide to Sen. Jane Orie, a former prosecutor who has championed state legislation to safeguard children, was fired Friday after the Attorney General’s Office charged him with sexually propositioning a child online and suggesting the two dress up as animals and have sex.

Alan David Berlin, 40, who was paid $57,340 a year to do legislative services for Orie, used the Internet screen name “alan_panda_bear” and propositioned the 15-year-old boy several times this month, Attorney General Tom Corbett said.
[...]
In profiles posted on Internet sites used for networking among furries, or people who dress as animals, Berlin identified himself as Alan The Panda with interests in baking, board games, classical music, fine dining, movies, travel, wine — and diapers. The cartoon panda on his Pounced.org page wears a diaper.
[...]
Berlin proposed traveling to the boy’s home in Harrisburg to have sex with him in the backyard while his parents slept inside, Corbett said, and requested nude photos of the teen. He suggested a meeting between the child and another adult, and offered to secure a hotel room if he could take pictures of the sex acts, Corbett said.

The boy’s parents became concerned when they discovered sexually graphic messages on their son’s computer and contacted investigators with the Child Predator Unit, which began an investigation on Tuesday.

Well, this means a few things. First, the man is either sick or incredibly stupid not to know that sex with 15-year-olds is not a good idea. Probably both. Second, that kid is either sick or just incredibly desperate to not liberally apply his instant messenger’s “block” button as soon as a 40-year-old man asks him to take his pants off. Third, the requirement that Pounced members be 18 or older is obviously not doing anything, though it’s not like that wasn’t obvious to anyone with a working knowledge of teenagers on the Internet.

It hits close to my heart when I see this kind of awful thing happen to the type of kid I can relate to. I was a 15-year-old furry once, and met the most fun and awesome people on the face of the earth through the furry community. One of the aspects I enjoyed is that, in general, sexuality isn’t taboo to furries like it inexplicably is to most of America. Should someone like Mr. Berlin exploit that sex-is-not-evil-and-actually-quite-nice sort of vibe and prey on inexperienced teenagers, the result can obviously be undesirable.

Or perhaps Mr. Berlin genuinely is a furry, and isn’t just interested in anthropomorphism for sexual reasons. That does not change the fact that he asked a 15-year-old boy for sex. Whether they’d be wearing fursuits or vampire regalia or Star Trek costumes or nothing but cross pendants around their necks, the man is sick. And that kid should know better, but it’s mostly the pedophile’s fault.

Update: Pirate Bay Lawyer Wants A Retrial

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 2:14 PM on April 23, 2009 in Commentary. View Comments Tags: , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/fPQ

Time to clarify my last post, as the news has surfaced in English from The Local, whose slogan is “Sweden’s news in English.” Convenient, no?

“A lawyer representing one of the men convicted in the Pirate Bay trial has called for a retrial after reports that the judge was a member of the same copyright protection organisations as several of the main entertainment industry representatives.
[...]
One of the groups of which [Judge] Norström is a signed up member is Svenska föreningen för upphovsrätt (‘the Swedish Copyright Association’), where he is joined by Henrik Pontén, Peter Danowsky and Monique Wadsted, all of whom represented the entertainment industry in the case against file sharing site The Pirate Bay.

The judge also sits on the board of Svenska föreningen för industriellt rättsskydd (Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property), a group actively advocating for more stringent copyright laws.

Norström argues that he was not however swayed in his judgement by involvement with copyright protection groups.”

Of course you don’t think you have a conflict of interest, Norström. You’re a member of the scumbag lobby, so you have to stay in character. It’s rather disgusting how the “good guys” upholding the “law” are resorting to political corruption. Granted, Norström did dismiss a lot of the charges based on lack of evidence, but that just amounts to covering his ass.

The Pirate Bay Trial Judge In League With Plaintiffs?

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 2:39 AM on April 23, 2009 in Commentary. View Comments Tags: , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/MgS

Speaking of The Pirate Bay verdict, it seems there are some dubious connections between Judge Tomas Norström, who presided over the trial, and copyright lobbyists. One of the defendants, Peter Kolmisoppi, tweeted that the story was breaking in Sweden. At the moment, that’s the only place the story was broken. Here’s what I can discern from a translation into English.

“I fredags dömdes alla fyra grundarna av The Pirate Bay till ett års fängelse och över 30 miljoner kronor i skadestånd. Men nu visar en granskning som P3 Nyheter har gjort att domaren i Pirate Bay-målet kanske är jävig. [On Friday sentenced the four founders of The Pirate Bay to a year in prison and over 30 million in damages. But now a review of P3 News has made to the judge in Pirate Bay case is perhaps biased.]
[...]
Vår granskning visar att det finns kopplingar mellan domaren i Pirate Bay-målet och målsägarsidan, det vill säga film- och skivbolagen och deras advokater.
[Our review shows that there are links between the judge in Pirate Bay case and target ägarsidan, namely film and record companies and their lawyers. ]
[...]
Henrik Pontén, Peter Danowsky och Monique Wadsted som företräder rättighetsinnehavarna i Pirate Bay-rättegången är också medlemmar. Föreningen skriver på sin hemsida att de är ”en mötesplats för kvalificerade upphovsrättsliga diskussioner.” [Here is the judge member at leisure. Henrik Pontén, Peter Danowsky and Monique Wadsted representing rights holders in Pirate Bay trial are also members. The association writes on its website that they are "a meeting place for skilled copyright discussions."]”
[...]
Föreningen jobbar med frågor som patent och mönsterskydd, men har också verkat för en starkare upphovsrätt. Här sitter domaren med i styrelsen. [The association works with issues such as patents and designs, but has also pushed for a stronger copyright. Here sits the judge with the Board.]

If I’m interpreting the broken translation correctly, the photo accompanying the article depicts the judge at a meeting with copyright lobbyists (debatable since “here is the judge” is used in two sections). There is also apparently evidence that he either knew the lobbyists personally or sat on their board. I’m definitely not getting the full story since the only comprehensible English is from Kolmisoppi’s tweets, but there’s certainly something fishy about this.

I’ll be watching this, and I’ll give an updated rant as soon as someone who can translate from Swedish gets on the story.

It’s Raining Anti-Gay Marriage Ads

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 4:14 PM on April 8, 2009 in Commentary. View Comments Tags: , , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/8XG

A Gawker article informed me about another advertisement informing the American people that if I can get married, we’re all going to die. Oh, lovely.

At the request of a Videogum post (which was quick to note that the acronym for National Organization for Marriage sounds like eating a sammich), I decided to set this ad to “It’s Raining Men”. It works better now.

This video is also on YouTube.
Downloadable in 640×360: 4MB .mov (Right Click and Save Link As)

On a serious note, to respond to the idea that “my kids are going to be taught that gay marriage is okay,” I don’t really see what the problem is with that. Gay marriage is okay. That’s the entire point of legalizing it. But legalizing it doesn’t require teachers to say that it’s okay, even though it is. So fear not, NOM, marriage equality has nothing to do with teaching gay-bashing in school.